A prominent buy to let mortgage lender says there’s been a surge of interest in so-called green mortgages linked to good EPC ratings.

Paragon Bank increased buy-to-let lending by 19.5 per cent during the first half of its financial year – it completed £854.6m of buy-to-let loans in the six months to March 31.

The period saw a particularly strong increase in green mortgage completions after Paragon launched its product range offering a pricing incentive for more energy efficient properties. 

A total of £353m of completions were for properties with an EPC of between A and C, a 38.4 per cent increase on 2021.

The pipeline of new buy-to-let business ended the period 44.4 per cent higher than last year to £1.34 billion. Meanwhile, the mortgage loan book ended the period at £12 billion, compared with £11.13 billion in 2021.

Richard Rowntree, Paragon Bank Managing Director of Mortgages – and a regular contributor to Landlord Today’s weekend features section – says: “These are an excellent set of results which reflect Paragon’s focus on the specialist end of the buy to let market. 

“Portfolio landlords demonstrated a strong desire to acquire additional property during the period, helping to underpin the private rented sector at a time of record tenant demand.

“I am particularly pleased to see landlords starting to prepare for expected changes to minimum energy performance standards in the private rented sector, with growth in lending on EPC A-to-C properties. 

“This will be a big focus for the industry as we move towards a net zero future.”